Grant Nesbitt defended the council’s decision. “If the councillors hadn’t made that call to ban it, everyone would be jumping on the band wagon blaming them for letting it go up. I think they made the right decision,”

Stewart Penn however said, “The picture is of two naked men embracing watched over by a lone female. The objective is to identify and stimulate debate on issues of identity in modern day Ireland. It is not a naked gay sex scene.”

Lisa Murphy McCourt, said, “Don’t millions of kids watch grown men hugging and kissing each other after a goal is scored...! What’s the difference.”